


Since I Left This Town

by Rìgh_Marbh (Righ_Marbh)



Series: Another Day [2]
Category: The Last Kingdom (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25470955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Righ_Marbh/pseuds/R%C3%ACgh_Marbh
Summary: Here we go with Prompt 40: "Finan/Sihtric domestic moments" for tlkfanficfest!Since that first night when Finan cornered him, they’ve only slept apart when they’ve been on the road...but that doesn't mean that there's anything more to it...does it?
Relationships: Finan/Sihtric (The Last Kingdom)
Series: Another Day [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844980
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58
Collections: The Last Kingdom Fanfic Fest





	Since I Left This Town

By the time they’re settled enough in Coccham to have homes of their own, taking them off of the floor of Uhtred’s hall and scattering them around the settlement, Sihtric struggles to imagine his life before Uhtred and Alfred and Finan. Especially Finan.

Since that first night when Finan cornered him, they’ve only slept apart when they’ve been on the road and, even then, Sihtric is always faintly aware of Finan’s eyes on him as he falls asleep. At the first sign of heading home, though, everything changes.

When they finally set course for Coccham, Sihtric likes to ride behind Finan and watch all of the little changes that began to take place. On the road he’s tense and protective, always with one eye on the horizon looking for trouble. He laughs and jokes as much as the rest of them but he still always seems to be quick to sober and never _quite_ with them.

It begins when they leave Winchester and Finan leans back in the saddle and closes his eyes against the bright spring sun and the cool breeze. His shoulders drop a little and he wears a lazy smile for most of the day. When they camp, he sits half-sprawled by the campfire with his shoulder pressed against Sihtric’s where they would normally sit across from each other, sharing the odd knowing glance. In the morning he’s upbeat, not quite rushing them to get going but cheerfully shooing them about the camp until they’re mounted and setting off again.

They make it to Coccham by the afternoon. It’s one hard day’s ride from Winchester but they’ve had weeks of hard days rides and as eager as they are to get home, it’s nice to not need to ride for their lives for a change. He grows quieter as they approach the settlement and some might mistake it for sullenness but Sihtric knows now that it’s contentment. Uhtred knows it as well and watches Finan with thinly veiled amusement and a few pointed comments that Sihtric can’t quite hear but that get a good natured rise out of Finan.

The real changes happen after they hand over their horses and Sihtric follows two paces behind Finan as he makes a beeline for their front door. There’s no hurry. He just sheds the last of his tension along with his armour and weapons before dropping to sit at the table with a sigh.

Sihtric takes his time tugging at his armour and piling it on top of a wooden chest at the far side of the room. It will need cleaned and repaired and he’s broken the blade of his knife which will need dealt with but, for now, these are all problems for later.

He hears Finan shift and looks over his shoulder to find him sitting on the edge of the table, rather than the bench, watching him intently. Normally they flit around each other, putting things away and making note of what work needs done, until they’re almost too tired to climb the ladder and collapse into bed beside each other. Sometimes he wakes up with Finan’s arm around his waist and sometimes he doesn’t.

But Finan is perched on the edge of the table which is...new...and when he holds out a hand, Sihtric takes it without a second thought and allows himself to be tugged over to stand between his legs. He’s found himself like this with Finan before - that first night in Coccham, for example, or when the idiot has taken one too many chances in a fight and added another scar to the collection on his face, or when one or the other of them is too drunk to stand and the other has to steady them. It’s a... _closeness_...he doesn’t share with any one else.

“That last one was too close.”

He means the arrow that had snuck behind Sihtric’s shield and lodged in his armour. It had lost too much momentum to even break the skin but it had caused both of them a brief moment of panic and Finan had been unusually fussy afterwards.

“I’m here, am I not?”

“But you nearly weren’t.”

His head falls against Sihtric’s chest and his arms wrap around his waist and all Sihtric can do is run his hands through Finan’s hair and wonder if this is what those men with wives had gone home to. Finan lifts his head and kisses the spot to the right of Sihtric’s breastbone where the arrow would have struck home had it not been for sheer dumb luck and this is...also very new. They might sleep in the same bed but there’s never been any suggestion that...not that he hasn’t _wondered_ about it...but there’s nothing that unusual in their arrangements that would have automatically suggested...and, suddenly, Sihtric’s breath stutters. Finan lifts his head and looks up at Sihtric with tired eyes.

“Come to bed?”

There’s an undercurrent to the question that he can’t quite fathom and, so, he stalls...just to try and give his brain time to catch up.

“Not yet. I need to get my knife fixed.”

Finan actually whines at that and Sihtric can’t help but laugh at him. Yes, he thinks, this must be what it is to have a wife. The thought should trouble him - Finan is his friend and his equal and to risk that is to risk everything - but somehow it feels like coming to terms with something he has known for a long time now and slowly, very slowly, he leans into it.

His hands leave Finan’s hair and he traces a careful line along the curve of his jaw instead. He wonders if Finan’s eyes are always this dark.

“The blacksmith’s will be there in the morning. _Please_ come to bed?”

“If I promise to make it up to you, can I please go and have my knife fixed?”

Interest sparks in his eyes and in that moment Sihtric abandons his plans to promise to come back with a jug of ale because the realisation of _exactly_ what they have been tiptoeing around for a year now hits him hard enough to knock the breath from him.

“And how will you manage that?”

He leans in closer, just slightly, to test the waters and Finan lets out a soft sigh of anticipation, surging forward to close the gap between them and kissing him hard.

It feels as thought it lasts barely a moment but Finan grips his hips hard enough to leave bruises and Sihtric can barely breathe by the time the they pull apart.

“Is that promise enough?”

Finan’s lip is split where Sihtric had to bite to get him to let go and he leans in again to kiss at the blood beginning to bead there before dodging backwards out of Finan’s grasp with a laughter at the other man’s petulant huff.

“You realise I want you to come to bed even more now.”

Even so, he doesn’t move to stop him from collecting his things.

“Then it will be even more worth the wait.”

“Bastard.”

Sihtric pauses at the door and turns back to him.

“Your bastard though.”


End file.
